As the NFL comes under increased pressure about player concussions, this new initiative is encouraging:
The four-year initiative, which is expected to begin in March with at least $50 million from the league and G.E., is the result of a late October conversation between Commissioner Roger Goodell and G.E.’s chief executive, Jeffrey Immelt, a former offensive tackle at Dartmouth. When Goodell explained his idea of getting leading companies in innovation to join the N.F.L. to accelerate research, Immelt said he wanted to help.
The first part, financed by at least $30 million over four years, will focus on specializing imaging equipment to detect head trauma. G.E. is a leader in diagnostic equipment like magnetic resonance imaging, but while those devices have been tailored to the study of diseases like multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer’s, they have so far not been honed for traumatic brain injuries like concussions.
The second element of the project aims to improve helmets and other protective devices by, essentially, crowd sourcing for solutions. G.E. would run, with an initial investment of $20 million, what it calls an innovation challenge, asking inventors, entrepreneurs, scientists and academicians to submit ideas for how safety equipment could be improved. The most promising ideas would be selected, financed and brought to market, opening the field to ideas that have not sprung from G.E. or helmet manufacturers.
Popular Science recently ran a gallery of next gen helmet designs including one from Rawlings, better known for baseball helmets
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